Firm to collect Naga’s waste

CEBU, Philippines - For P750 per ton of garbage, a private firm has assured that Naga City, its latest client, will have zero waste starting next month.

Fulgencio Revalde, president of FDRCon Co. Inc., a general contractor which also claims specialization on solid waste management, said that by next month, with their company now taking care of Naga’s solid waste management, there will be “zero waste” in the city.

The city, through Mayor Valdemar Chiong, yesterday signed an agreement with FDRCon, represented by Revalde, allowing the latter to collect, segregate and recycle or treat its tons of waste everyday.

Revalde said his company will do all the job for P750 per ton of waste. According to Chiong, the city averages 15-18 tons of solid waste everyday, which goes straight to the dump site in barangay Bairan.

If the city produces 15 tons daily, that’s times P750, starting next month, or exactly 30 days from yesterday, it will be paying the firm P11,250 a day, or a total of P337,500 per month. That is just minimal, according to Revalde, as the firm will be doing all the work, providing the equipment and manpower for the project, which is expected to cost the firm P30 million.

Under the agreement, FDRCon will create “City of Naga Ecology Center,” a resource recovery facility where the collected waste will be processed.

Ervin Estandarte, the company’s operations manager, said the facility will function as collection, weighing and storage area. This is also where the second segregation and shredding of waste will be done.

To arrive at “zero waste” or no residual at all, Estandarte explained that waste will be “treated” or “cured,” if not composed for eco-friendly farming or recycled to be reused for some other purposes.

The project is also two-pronged: it will make the city free from waste, and, under the same newly sealed agreement, livelihood training will also be conducted by the private firm.    (FREEMAN NEWS)